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Science Fiction/Fantasy Short Stories
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/scifiphoto.jpg)
There are a lot of good short stories in this field. Let's share some of our favorites, just for a little fun, not too serious.
The Nine Billion Names of God (http://downlode.org/Etext/nine_billion_names_of_god.html) Arthur C. Clarke
The Arm of the Law (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29204/29204-h/29204-h.htm) Henry Harrison
The Golem (https://books.google.com/books?id=cj0lhuzFSloC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=avram+davidson+the+golem+online&source=bl&ots=gIT_vPfPq7&sig=2dqF7TT9v796rPQ7VjOJ5jPjeEQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik2NSvq6bSAhUE6CYKHTOtAfE4ChDoAQghMAM#v=onepage&q=avram%20davidson%20the%20golem%20online&f=false/) Avram Davidson
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees (http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/yu_04_11/) E. Lily Yu
The Fountains (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781618249401/9781618249401___5.htm) Ursula K. LeGuin
Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge (http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/summer_2008/fiction_seven_views_of_olduvai_gorge_by_mike_resnick/) Mike Resnick
Arena (http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jjl5766/share/Arena.pdf) Frederick Brown
Kirinyaga (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/034541702X/034541702X_toc.htm) Mike Resnick
Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another. (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781625795304/9781625795304___2.htm) Robert Silverberg
Someone to Watch Over Me (https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/someone-to-watch-over-me/) Nancy Kress
The Women Men Don't See (http://valerie.debill.org/Hosting/The_Women_Men_Dont_See.pdf) James Tiptree, Jr.
Discussion leader: PatH
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The Nine Billion Names of God
Arthur C. Clarke
This tiny gem is a classic, so you may very well have read it. It isn't new, as you can see from the technology, but it's timeless. With updated computer technology, it could have been written just yesterday. Here's the link; enjoy.
The Nine Billion Names of God (http://downlode.org/Etext/nine_billion_names_of_god.html)
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What a fun idea!
Here is one by Harry Harrison that I've always liked. When I searched to find an online copy (besides the Gutenberg site) I found this YouTube "read along" audio presentation. Nicely done. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Dp2i0uHZqQ
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The Clarke really sticks with you. Anyone who doesn't know anything about Clarke, could one guess his religious orientation from the story?
Frybabe, I'm about to check out the Harrison.
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Off to read the two stories. Didn't wev read the Clarke one here once?
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OK, I read the Clarke. Yes, we did read it before here, but it's still good.
What religion is Clarke? No idea. Probably made up his own? what do you all think?
Off to read FRYBABE's.
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Good idea by the public library. People can read along with the story. I'm afraid I'm too impatient for it. y curse is, read too fast, and miss stuff. But I get irritated if I have to slow down. Hope I never have to rely on books on tape.
back to Clarke, if you believed as these monks do, would you get a computer? I notice Clarke doesn't tell the story from the monk's point of view.
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Fun idea PatH. I never read Sci-Fi so this will be a nice change for me. Off to give both of them a read, will be back to comment tomorrow since the two grandkids are spending the night.
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For anyone who joins JoanK and me in preferring to read rather than listen, here's The Arm of the Law in print.
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29204/29204-h/29204-h.htm (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29204/29204-h/29204-h.htm)
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The Arm of the Law is a nice example of robot stories of the 1950s, in which there is an element of surprise in how much the robots act like humans. Tomorrow I'll put up another '50s robot story with a very different take.
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The Golem
Avram Davidson
Avram Davidson wrote sci-fi, fantasy, and detective stories. This gentle sci-fi/fantasy showcases his low-key sense of humor and warm humanity--worth a few chuckles. I'm sorry for the annoying website. It seems to be a sample from a book, and I couldn't figure out how to get rid of the highlighting. There is over a page of description of the author, then the story starts without a title, but you can spot it by the wider line width. I haven't had trouble with it skipping pages, but someone else did. If you have problems, let me know and I'll troubleshoot. The story is worth it.
The Golem (https://books.google.com/books?id=cj0lhuzFSloC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=avram+davidson+the+golem+online&source=bl&ots=gIT_vPfPq7&sig=2dqF7TT9v796rPQ7VjOJ5jPjeEQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik2NSvq6bSAhUE6CYKHTOtAfE4ChDoAQghMAM#v=onepage&q=avram%20davidson%20the%20golem%20online&f=false/)
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Hmmm... I just don't know what to make of this short story The Nine Billion Names of God. It ends with an unknown. We don't know if the computer finished the names and we don't know if Chuck and George made it to their destination. Only looking up to the skies into the unknown. Is the purpose of the story to show us life is all unknowing and unending? I'll have to give this some more thought. I didn't see this so much as Sci-fi.
My hubby went golfing with his brother one day a few years ago, he came home and said he thinks his brother has fallen away from the Catholic church and has gotten himself into some sort of crazy religion. I asked why he felt that way, he said because his brother believes the world is coming to an end in just a couple of weeks away. I laughed and said, "Well when are the two of you going golfing again?" Hubby replied, "In three weeks." I said well the next time you go golfing you may want to ask your brother now what. They met at the golf course in three weeks, played a round of golf, went to lunch and my hubby asked him now what since the date has come and gone. He had no answer. Kinda like this story. Predictions have run a muck over centuries. As scripture states,
Mark 13:32 32 "But as for that day or hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."
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I don't think Clarke has any very deep purpose with his story. Mainly, I think he wants to give us a shock of horror and weirdness with the ending. We assume that the computer did finish, that the monks were right, and the whole universe is ending. The uncertainty makes it even more memorable. If it starts us pondering, that's good, but I don't think he's pointing toward any particular conclusion.
I like the story of your brother in law. If he thought the world was going to end, why did he make another golf date?
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The image at the end of the story is certainly memorable. t gives me chills just thinking about it.
read FRY'S robot story. Didn't expect the ending. now 'll see what PAT's robot can do.
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"the Golem" is really funny! I miss Yiddish humor.
What about the rest to you. Which robot story did you like better? Do you like the idea of using the introduction of a robot to shine a light on the everyday?
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Frybabe's robot story reminded me of a cartoon my grandkids would watch.
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I've just ordered Invisible Planets: Contemporary Chinese Science Fiction in Translation from the library. The Editor, Ken Liu is not only a translator, but he has also written some of his own Science Fiction/Fantasy. Not only that, he is a lawyer and a computer programmer. He has a long list of awards for his translations and original stories, including 9 awards from Hugo and 8 awards from Nebula.
Occasionally, I check on https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/ to see what new short stories and reviews they have posted.
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Frybabe, if you see something there that fits this discussion, feel free to post it here.
I've read one or two of Ken Liu's short stories. They're good.
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Do you like the idea of using the introduction of a robot to shine a light on the everyday?
That's one of the strengths of science fiction. Shift something in the real world, and use that to examine people from a different angle, throw fresh light on ourselves.
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Did you like The Golem? I love the way he turns a nameless horror into a minor interruption, not even worthy as news in a letter to a relative.
For anyone not familiar with the legend of the Golem, Mr. Gumbeiner's summary is faithful to the original story, the rabbi in Prague making the creature out of clay and breathing life into it withe written name of God. It's been used a lot in literature since then.
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I've never cared much for Sci-fi, I guess you could say I am more pragmatic. When I read Sci-fi or go to a movie I am always trying to make things fit logically and sensibly. Super heroes and super powers irritate me because my mind knows it's just not possible. When my sons were young and watched the Batman and Spiderman shows I would constantly tell them it was all not real. They would say, "Mom stop saying that it ruins it for us. We like believing it's real." When I was growing up I did like watching The Twilight Zone because it was such a phenomenon and a bit scary.
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When I was a child, I liked to watch Superman, and sometimes I got to listen to The Green Lantern on the radio. But, I don't care for superheroes now. Never watched Wonder Woman or Zena, let alone the current craze. I did watch one or two Batman movies years ago, when they first came out. I thought Jack Nickolson did a whopping good Joker.
The Golem was funny. It reminded me of Stiller and Meara. I could here their voices as I read.
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Followed the link and laughed so hard reading the short story - first I cannot imagine a Tibetan monk in a monastery even concerning himself with the number of names given to ID God - (PS wasn't there a book popular a few years ago, something the 1000 names of God, something like that) anyhow then reading the idea of the future death of mankind - again laughed - this writer sure does not believe in science does he - no nod to evolution.
I can see it now - we become more and more dependent upon technology that our bodies will atrophy to the size of a single atom and a big wind blows us all together where lightening strikes and we explode creating an alternative universe as small as a digital pin but room enough for billions of atoms as long as we do not move too much and cause another explosion. About as preposterous as matter disappearing ;)
Never understood this whole thing of preachers talking for God - now ruling for God, that is a power trip and we have had many religions based on just that. Ah so - if this is science fiction I would enjoy more science.
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Barb, maybe not in that short story, but Arthur C. Clarke did give a big nod to evolution (in a SciFi way) in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Religious themes and characters often showed up in his writing.
JoanK, you asked what religion Clarke was. He once proclaimed himself an atheist in his autobiography, but he also said in a CNN interview that he didn't believe in God, but he didn't not believe in her either. That would make him more of an agnostic, whil a few of his comments lead people to believe he was more of a Deist in philosophy. He didn't believe in religion (or organized religion) and he didn't believe in predestination.
Oh, Barb. your comment about alternate universes and bodies atrophying to the size of an atom reminds me of the movie Men in Black where the bad guys were after a large marble sized universe which was attached to a cats' collar.
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Actually, Clarke was a scientist. Without looking it up, I think he worked on radar development in WWII.
His books give the impression of someone who has no formal religious beliefs, but isn't comfortable with this and is kind of looking for an almighty substitute--super-wise extraterrestrials or something. For example Childhood's End, or 2001.
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Clarke promoted the idea of using a geostationary satellite to use as a relay for radio and TV signals. I actually thought he had something to do with inventing or building TelStar, but I guess a lot of us were mislead on that point. Here is a nice article giving the history of TelStar that The Register in the UK published back in 2012. http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/07/10/telstar_anniversary/
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He was also a big campaigner for geosynchronous space stations with elevators leading up, as jumping off points for space travel, especially in "The Fountains of Paradise", which alternates the building of such on a thinly disguised Ceylon with flashbacks to a more or less accurately described very colorful ancient ruler of the island.
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I'm traveling today, so you won't see much of me until evening.
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I was just looking at that book on one of the used book sites. I'd like to order Neil McAleer's biography of Clarke. Clarke's brother also has a book out about him which was published in 2012. The blurb says there is never before published stuff in it.
Safe travels, Pat.
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Safe travels PatH.!!!!
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Just learned that protons are older than the universe
http://www.abarim-publications.com/QuantumPhrases.html#.WLXN__JLO14
For a typical human of 155 lbs, there are almost 7*10^27 atoms (that's a 7 followed by 27 zeros!) Another way of saying this is "seven billion billion billion." Of this, almost 2/3 is hydrogen, 1/4 is oxygen, and about 1/10 is carbon. These three atoms add up to 99% of the total!
Of that, 4.7^27 would be hydrogen atoms, which have one proton and one electron each. Another 1.8^27 would be oxygen, which has 8 protons, 8 neutrons and 8 electrons. There are 7.0^26 carbon atoms, which have 6 protons, 6 neutrons and 6 electrons...one of 5 elements in the human DNA is composed of 6 protons
And so, not only are we made from the stars, as Saigon pointed out and Joni Mitchell sang, but our body is made of protons that are older than the universe. Not only our body but all living matter contain protons that are older than the big bang...
Then as an analogy to human behavior - Protons mutually repel each other because of their electric charge. ;) ;D
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ha, ha, ha...... I had to laugh at the last sentence Barb,
Then as an analogy to human behavior - Protons mutually repel each other because of their electric charge.
So as Paul Harvey would end his radio commentary with...."So now you have it."
I've missed your knowledge and humor Barb, glad to have you back even if it's in small bits.
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'I'm traveling today, so you won't see much of me until evening.'
Should we crank up the search and rescue? Or would that be an exercise in futility? Were we wrong in assuming Pat meant conventional travel? In her previous post she talked about space stations and the Fountains of Paradise. Should we send the Golem to find her?
I've read the story of the Golem. I found it heartbreaking. Granted that it was a big help for the elderly Gumbeiners, it must have been humiliating for the Golem to be reduced to mowing lawns. For anyone wanting to know more, I reccommend Elie Wiesel's The Golem.
You're right, Joan. There's nothing like Yiddish humor, and the culture that gave it birth. I remember reading something about it years ago in a book: Number Our Days. A community of elderly, Yiddish speaking 'characters' in Venice, California. A marvellous story. I must find it and reread it. Lots of laughs along with much else. The book was the work of a professional anthrapologist.
Good Night, Pat, wherever you are.
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I found this interesting short story, this morning, in a magazine that is new to me. Clarkesworld. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/yu_04_11/ I get the story, except for the point of the last line.
E. Lily Yu is an American SciFi writer who won the John W. Campbell Award for Best Writer in 2012. "The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees" was nominated and was a finalist for a bunch of awards.
The editor and publisher of Clarkesworld, Neil Clarke, is no relation to Arthur C. Clarke as far as I know.
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Jonathan, I'm in Portland, OR, easily reached by conventional travel, and not a space station in sight. It does contain a fine science fiction author, though, Ursula K. LeGuin. When I come here, I hope to run into her somewhere, but it hasn't happened.
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That's an interesting story, Frybabe. The author is American. Do you know if she was born here? It reads a bit like something a sufferer under the Chinese system would write. Who destroyed the anarchist hive? Or does anarchism always destroy itself and then rise from the ashes to fight against totalitarianism?
Even though we are gone,"Write" and carry on our ideas?
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Ah, mystery solved.
I just made the mistake of looking up Anarchism. Now I am going to have to reread the story, and learn more about Anarchism. It has a very long history.
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PAT: I'm glad you're back on our planet. It's small, and in the boonies, but it's home.
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FRY, PAT: I read your story, and I didn't understand the ending either. Why are the anarchists gone? Perhaps the author is referring to an actual historical event, and is describing it in disguised Sci-Fi form.
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Joan, my guess is that anarchists are extremely independent, don't want to be told what to do, do as they please, when they please. They believe in free and spontaneous work, etc. That is very simplistic, considering that little I read into anarchism, but my best guess with the story is that the anarchists, like the grasshopper in the Grasshopper and the Ant fable, goofed off, didn't do the work necessary to maintain a cohesive community structure and suffered a catastrophic fate as a result.
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Science Fiction/Fantasy Short Stories
(http://seniorlearn.org/latin/graphics/Versailleshorses.jpg)
There are a lot of good short stories in this field. Let's share some of our favorites, just for a little fun, not too serious.
The Nine Billion Names of God (http://downlode.org/Etext/nine_billion_names_of_god.html) Arthur C. Clarke
The Arm of the Law (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29204/29204-h/29204-h.htm) Henry Harrison
The Golem (https://books.google.com/books?id=cj0lhuzFSloC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=avram+davidson+the+golem+online&source=bl&ots=gIT_vPfPq7&sig=2dqF7TT9v796rPQ7VjOJ5jPjeEQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik2NSvq6bSAhUE6CYKHTOtAfE4ChDoAQghMAM#v=onepage&q=avram%20davidson%20the%20golem%20online&f=false/) Avram Davidson
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees (http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/yu_04_11/) E. Lily Yu
The Fountains (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781618249401/9781618249401___5.htm) Ursula K. LeGuin
Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge (http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/summer_2008/fiction_seven_views_of_olduvai_gorge_by_mike_resnick/) Mike Resnick
Arena (http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jjl5766/share/Arena.pdf) Frederick Brown
Kirinyaga (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/034541702X/034541702X_toc.htm) Mike Resnick
Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another. (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781625795304/9781625795304___2.htm) Robert Silverberg
Someone to Watch Over Me (https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/someone-to-watch-over-me/) Nancy Kress
The Women Men Don't See (http://valerie.debill.org/Hosting/The_Women_Men_Dont_See.pdf) James Tiptree, Jr.
Discussion leader: PatH
how did y`all get your pictures to appear at the beginning of your post ?
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Exbrit, it's been so long I've forgotten. You can ask your question in the help discussion:
http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=29.400 (http://seniorlearn.org/forum/index.php?topic=29.400)
I'll also alert someone who knows how that your question is here, and you will be answered one or both places.
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Hi, ExBrit...
First of all, you need to have your small photo at a third site on the internet, like photobucket, for example.
If you don't have a site like that or your own webspace, you can email your photo to me and I'll put it on my photobucket account. I've done this for others here. I'll then email you the link to put in:
PROFILE/Modify Profile/Forum Profile
and at the top is the place to get your photo into your account. You put the url of your photo from where you have it at that third site into the space there when you click "Specify avatar by url"
If you want to send it to me, I"ll then email you the url to put in that space.
If you choose to send me your photo, please send it to:
janeiowaLatin@gmail.com
Thanks,
jane
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Perhaps the author is referring to an actual historical event, and is describing it in disguised Sci-Fi form.
I'm sure you're right, Joan, and since I'm hopeless at decoding allegory, and even worse in my knowledge of Chinese history, I'm lost. You can see some of it, though. Certainly the wasps are the oppressive tyranny. In the bees, the desire for rebellion or freedom is innate ( genetically resurfacing here) and will always recur.
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The anarchists don't seem like anarchists to me. They're definitely rebels or revolutionaries, but they're too systematic for anarchists. Everyone works, even the males (drones normally just hang around hoping to be the one to mate with the queen, and are killed at the stert of winter) and the queen. And they try their utmost to lay in enough stores for the coming winter, even though it's already late in the season.
That's probably why they all died. They ate everything, honey, wax, brood cells, but it wasn't enough. They foresaw this:
"There will be more, after us. It will breed out again."
"We are only the beginning."
"There will be more."
Snow fell silently outside.
Hence the last line, which I found moving on first reading, even though I hadn't figured out much.
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Just for the record, I don't see how anarchism could possibly work as a system. Maybe for destroying things, but not for running things.
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I think it is according to our definition of running things - order is one way but more and more we realize we are living in chaos as a system - I like this explanation - scroll down to the attractors and the example of the town that adds a factory and what happens - reminds me of nations today especially the fast increase of population Europe is experiencing with the refugee crisis. And so the idea of traditional order begs reality.
http://www.abarim-publications.com/ChaosTheoryIntroduction.html#.WLuX9fJLO14
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Barb, that's a really interesting article. Makes me want to read the whole thing. I feel sorry for that poor town, seesawing back and forth, but I expect we've all seen things like that.
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The Fountains
Ursula K. Le Guin
Here's something very different. Ursula K. Le Guin's gentle, surreal story of a man's inner journey isn't sci-fi, is just berely fantasy. Le Guin herself thinks those terms too rigid, and prefers "speculative fiction".
It helps to remember, when things start to get strange, that we are in the gardens of Versailles, which are every bit as weird and wonderful as the description.
http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781618249401/9781618249401___5.htm (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781618249401/9781618249401___5.htm)
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Barb, I can barely get my head wrapped around Quantum Theory, now we have Chaos. The Chaos Theory is not something I have looked into. I've bookmarked the site to read at my leisure.
PS: Just read the story. I am sure there is more truth to that than not for some who may have found themselves suddenly free from surveillance.
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There's truth even if you haven't been under surveillance too. Have any of you ever had some external circumstance remind you of your inner strength and purpose, and set you back on your path?
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I've started on Infinite Planets, Ken Liu editor and translator. The intro and essays were quite interesting. So far, I've only read the first story, "The Year of the Rat", by Chen Qiufan. I liked it very much. It was originally published in the Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine way back in 2013.
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Jonathan,
You're right, Joan. There's nothing like Yiddish humor, and the culture that gave it birth. I remember reading something about it years ago in a book: Number Our Days. A community of elderly, Yiddish speaking 'characters' in Venice, California. A marvelous story. I must find it and reread it. Lots of laughs along with much else. The book was the work of a professional anthropologist.
Where DO you come up with these fabulous things? I went online to read more about it, it sounded vaguely familiar. I read the first two pages on Amazon and was blown away. We must read and discuss this book!! I've ordered it. Margaret Drabble has a new one out on the same subject but it's fiction. Everybody is talking about it. THIS one we must read.
If we schedule it to start the middle of June, would you read it with us since it's your "find?" I absolutely love the first two pages, it's speaks to ALL of us, there isn't anybody on this website who can't relate to it.
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'Every morning I wake up in pain. I wiggle my toes. Good. They still obey. I open my eyes. Good. I can see. Everything hurts but I get dressed. I walk down to the ocean. Good. It's still there. Now my day can start. About tomorrow I never know. After all, I'm eighty-nine. I can't live forever.'
Ginny, I'm pleased you liked it. Isn't that opening paragraph a dandy. These elderly folks are so full of spirit, with wonderful memories, and amazing survival smarts. The book was a great help when I put my mind to learning Yiddish...as a retirement project, years ago. My family found it very amusing. I still get things in my Christmas stocking. This year it was Yiddish for Pirates, by Gary Barwin, published last year and short-listed for a literary prize. We could also discussBorn To Kvetch:Yiddish Language and Culture in All its Moods, last years stocking stuffer, by Michael Wex.
It saddens me to think that toe-wiggler Basha and all her neighbors and friends have out-numbered their days by now, but what stories they left behind.
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Jonathan, I did not know that was a hobby of yours!! I miss hearing Yiddish, I really do. Maybe you can teach us a few new ones. :)
I have a feeling I can learn a lot from the people in Number Our Days about aging and how can you lose with so many people on this website with incredible perspectives, and memories, too.
But since this is the Sci Fi short story discussion and I saw Ursula K. Le Guin's name, I thought I'd read hers because I don't read a lot in this genre but I have read hers, and I like her immensely.
What did you all make of it? Is this what you meant, Pat, by There's truth even if you haven't been under surveillance too. Have any of you ever had some external circumstance remind you of your inner strength and purpose, and set you back on your path?
And then Frybabe talking about "free from surveillance."
I had some difficulty with it. If he's really under surveillance how did they let him get away?
It IS true the gardens at Versailles are immense and easy to disappear in but they are enclosed by gates as he said, it wouldn't have been easy IF they were keeping an eye on him as he supposes, close to him at all times? But apparently they aren't.
Is it possible it was all in his mind? Perhaps he feels watched and confined but really isn't? So what set him free here was....
I notice that when "free," when he has decided to "defect," he doesn't know what to do. Should he approach one of the embassies that late at night? He walks on. He goes back to his hotel (or is it?).
I have to admit she beguiled me with the fountains. The fountains at Versailles are...there are no words. I happened to stumble on them being turned on one year when visiting, they were only on on Sundays (then), they may be every day now, tho I was there year before last and they were just beginning to turn them on, but it was raining.... There is a new fountain directly behind the palace being built, and I am afraid of what it's going to look like, but anyway...The workers come and manually turn these gigantic water wheels, and it's interesting that Le Guin chose to talk about them being extinguished, because what's really stunning about them is when they come to life. The other is a let down. It's a return to reality. And she says that: The tremendous voice of uprushing and downfalling water became a rattling, coughing sigh. It was all through, and everyone stood for a moment alone.
Is she saying his new found "freedom," if that's what it was, in his "defection," even in his own mind, is a let down? Why is he crying? But no, he's striding like a king through the lobby. I kept looking for the rest of the story but there isn't one.
I actually, an old woman, actually RAN from one to the other of the fountains as they came to life and they turned them on, it's... it's an experience like no other and it's hard to describe unless you've seen it. It takes forever to turn them on, there are so many and to run to this one or that one and finally just give up, there are too many, and she's right, they can't run them all the time so they begin to turn them off.
(Versailles didn't used to have fountains or water features at all. Louis XIV kept a smaller court in Paris called Marly, the Château de Marly which was a wonderland of water featured because of the nearness of the Seine. Torn down and turned into some sort of factory after the French Revolution, the statuary, the famous Horses of Marly ended up in the Cour Marly in the Louvre, after briefly being put in public in the Place de la Concorde. The only reason I know about it is because from the same chateau came statues of Atalanta and Hippomenes which we read about in Latin. Also now in the Louvre with replicas in the Tuileries.)
So he sees the fountains and it gives him the strength to go on his own? But then his "minders" get back on the grey bus and leave him? All they would have to have done is wait by the gates, he would have to come out, but he says he doesn't really want...He was not long in the groves, an hour or less; there were gates to be locked and he did not want to be locked in
Knowing now that he was both a king and a thief and so was at home anywhere, what turned him to his own land was mere fidelity. For what else should move a man, these days? Kingly he strode past the secret-police agent in the hotel lobby, hiding under his coat the stolen, inexhaustible fountains.
So in HIS mind he has decided not to defect, he's turned again to his own land...a "thief" and a "king."
What happened next, in his life, do you think? I'm trying to figure out how he is different. A perfect choice for a discussion, there's something that everybody sees here that I don't.
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I found one of the short stories in Invisible Planets online, published in Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 65, February 2012. Is it fantasy or is it science fiction? Strange and interesting story called "A Hundred Ghosts Parade Tonight." http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/xia_02_12/
I am into the fifth short story in the book and I must say I am impressed by the stories that Ken Liu selected for this volume.
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Frybabe, I was impressed by that story too. It was hanging around in my mind for the rest of the day. I've placed a hold on Invisible Planets at my library, not only for the stories, but also for the essays on Chinese sci-fi. There's a different mindset that I want to understand better, since I can see reading more and more of them.
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Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge
Mike Resnick
This story has a rather jaundiced, unflattering view of mankind. An archaeological team of different species of aliens is investigating the origin of the now extinct human race.
Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge (http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/summer_2008/fiction_seven_views_of_olduvai_gorge_by_mike_resnick/)
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Arena
Fredric Brown
This is a classic old style sci-fi story. I'm not sure now whether I read it in Astounding when it came out in 1944 or a few years later. Either is possible, as I started reading my father's magazines at a tender age. It's a good example of an often used plot, which also occurs in an episode in the original Star Trek series. It's interesting to see the unsympathetic depiction of the alien; possibly the alien found Carson just as unsympathetic. Enjoy.
Arena (http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jjl5766/share/Arena.pdf)
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A short story I read many years ago has really stuck with me because of its startling ending: "The Awakening" by Arthur C. Clarke.
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David, welcome. Believe it or not, I first encountered Arthur C. Clarke in Playboy Magazine. It was "A Meeting with Medusa".
PatH, you know, I have run across Mike Resnick's name many times, but I don't ever remember reading any of his works, not even his collaboration with Jack McDevitt on The Cassandra Project.
Now that I've taken Invisible Planets back to the library, I can dig into these.
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Welcome, David, it's good to see you back again. I see I have The Awakening in an old paperback with a 35 cent cover price. I remembered it when I started reading. It is memorable.
I'll look for an online version.
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Wow, the Stardust Twins remind me of the twins in the Irredente series I read a short while back. They also finished each other sentences. Didn't miss a beat.
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The only other thing of Resnick's I've read is Kirinyaga, 8 short stories that were published separately, but together make up a longer story. A leader of the Kikuyu people of Kenya and his followers have moved to a terraformed planet, where they are reconstructing their pre-european way of life. You get very frustrated and annoyed at the narrator for his refusal to modify any of the more unfortunate aspects of the culture, but you can't help but be impressed by his single-minded dedication. And the sympathy of the author (a white American) for Kenya shines through the story.
Here are the first three stories. If you read them, the second is the least sympathetic in the book, and the third is perhaps the best. The first is quite short, and sets the tone nicely.
Kirinyaga (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/034541702X/034541702X__c_.htm)
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The only online version of Clarke's The Awakening I found has to be downloaded, which I don't like. Here it is. That picture is the cover of my old paperback.
The Awakening (http://www.gutenberg.us/articles/the_awakening_(arthur_c_clarke_short_story))
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I saw that page, Pat, but didn't see any way to download the story. It looks more like an info only item to me. If fact, Project Gutenberg doesn't list Clarke at all in their catalog. By clicking around, however, I did discover something interesting. Did you know that Gutenberg has a self-publishing feature? Did you know that you can borrow books in pdf form (you need a library card for this)? Still, no Clarke that I can find. I even tried looking up the Zenith SciFi magazine in which "The Awakening" as originally published. I'll have to see if I can get one of the book collections through one of my library accounts.
Hmmmm. I used to have several scifi short story books by Clarke and Bradbury, and Clarke's Foundation , but no more. The only Bradbury I have now is The Martian Chronicles.
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Frybabe, there seem to be only about four people looking in on SL instead of doing their taxes, so this next one is for you, so you'll have something to read.
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Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another.
by Robert Silverberg
Imagine a conversation between historical characters. What's the most unlikely pair you can think of? Robert Silverberg comes close in this amusing tale. Bear with a slow start. It's worth it.
http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781625795304/9781625795304___2.htm (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781625795304/9781625795304___2.htm)
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Thanks Pat, I'll get back to it later. Right now I am working on my Latin for Monday class. I am puzzling over the layout of Pliny the Younger's villa at Laurentum.
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Wow. Have fun.
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That was a good one Pat. It was written way back in 1989, although it reads like something you might see today, what with all the AI stuff going on.
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I found this really neat website "East of the Web"; super name.This is its science fiction and fantasy short stories section. http://www.eastoftheweb.com/short-stories/scifiindex.html Up in the right hand corner, you can also get word games and interactive goodies. It doesn't seem to have a whole lot of stories, but it sure is a nicely done website.
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That was a good one Pat. It was written way back in 1989, although it reads like something you might see today, what with all the AI stuff going on.
I first read it when it came out in one of Gardner Dozois' The Year's Best Science Fiction. It sure doesn't seem that long ago.
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This is a bit creepy, appalling even. It's a step beyond the recent news that some can spy on us, both visual and auditory, through our TV sets, webcams and such. https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/someone-to-watch-over-me/
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Creepy and appalling is right. The combination of technology and obsession can be deadly. The story sticks with you, too.
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The Women Men Don't See
James Tiptree, Jr.
What if an award-winning writer of s-f short stories, admired for his macho approach, turned out to be a woman? Would it matter? James Tiptree Jr. kept such a low profile that no one had met him. In the introduction to my 1975 paperback collection Warm Worlds and Otherwise, Robert Silverberg scoffs at the rumor that Tiptree could be a woman, comparing him to Hemingway. But someone exposed him. In the 1978 introduction to Star Songs of an Old Primate, Ursula K. LeGuin says that although they had long been correspondence friends, she had never suspected Tiptree’s gender until he was revealed to be Alice Sheldon. Two knowledgeable writers fooled.
It seems to me self-evident the stories were written by a woman, but I knew that when I first read them. Here’s the story Silverberg used to back his argument. What do you think?
The Women Men Don't See (https://web.archive.org/web/20021004123917/http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/tiptree2/tiptree21.html)
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And Tiptree remained popular and award-winning. The stories vary a lot in quality, but the best are little gems.
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That one certainly was a gem. I chuckled the whole way through it.l Thanks for the fun read.
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I found another gem this morning - Stephen Baxter's website. Here is a list of short stories by him. http://www.stephen-baxter.com/stories.html#Top I started reading "Pilot", which is the last on the list, but don't have time just now. Thought you might like to take a look at some of the stories.
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Yes, that looks promising. Thanks, Frybabe.
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Science Fiction/Fantasy Short Stories
(http://seniorlearn.org/bookclubs/graphics/scifiphoto.jpg)
There are a lot of good short stories in this field. Let's share some of our favorites, just for a little fun, not too serious.
The Nine Billion Names of God (http://downlode.org/Etext/nine_billion_names_of_god.html) Arthur C. Clarke
The Arm of the Law (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/29204/29204-h/29204-h.htm) Henry Harrison
The Golem (https://books.google.com/books?id=cj0lhuzFSloC&pg=PA38&lpg=PA38&dq=avram+davidson+the+golem+online&source=bl&ots=gIT_vPfPq7&sig=2dqF7TT9v796rPQ7VjOJ5jPjeEQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwik2NSvq6bSAhUE6CYKHTOtAfE4ChDoAQghMAM#v=onepage&q=avram%20davidson%20the%20golem%20online&f=false/) Avram Davidson
The Cartographer Wasps and Anarchist Bees (http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/yu_04_11/) E. Lily Yu
The Fountains (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781618249401/9781618249401___5.htm) Ursula K. LeGuin
Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge (http://subterraneanpress.com/magazine/summer_2008/fiction_seven_views_of_olduvai_gorge_by_mike_resnick/) Mike Resnick
Arena (http://www.ucs.louisiana.edu/~jjl5766/share/Arena.pdf) Frederick Brown
Kirinyaga (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/034541702X/034541702X_toc.htm) Mike Resnick
Enter a Soldier. Later: Enter Another. (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9781625795304/9781625795304___2.htm) Robert Silverberg
Someone to Watch Over Me (https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/someone-to-watch-over-me/) Nancy Kress
The Women Men Don't See (http://valerie.debill.org/Hosting/The_Women_Men_Dont_See.pdf) James Tiptree, Jr.
The MSG Golem (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780988432826/9780988432826___2.htm) Ken Liu
Time Shards (http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/time-shards/) Gregory Benford
The Weight of Memories (http://www.tor.com/2016/08/17/the-weight-of-memories/) Cixin Liu
Superiority (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/1439133476/1439133476___5.htm) Arthur C. Clarke
Discussion leader: PatH
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Good morning. This site is taking on dignity as the May book discussion. That won't change the approach, just increase the frequency of the stories.I'll post links, and give a bit of description so you can tell if it's the kind of s-f or fantasy you might like. Feel free to post links to stories you like too. I've put links to the past stories in the heading.
Enjoy.
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The MSG Golem
Ken Liu
First we had Avram Davidson's hilarious golem story. Here's another golem, this time with a Chinese take. Ken Liu is an American writer, respected both for his own stories and for his translations of Chinese sci-fi, especially that of Cixin Liu. This is a pretty light-hearted story, good for a chuckle.
The MSG Golem (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/9780988432826/9780988432826___2.htm)
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So, I have read MSG GOLEM and enjoyed it!! And it seemed like another Aesop fable. So if it is, should I read it again to identify what it really means😄😀??
My BIL read a lot of SciFi so I tried it and told him it was just Fiction to me. Just another way tell a story. But he set me right by saying that it took more imagination to write SciFi because it was always set in non existing places. And the beat goes on! 😄😄
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Actually, you're right, Annie. Just another way to tell a story. It does take some imagination, and you can look at human nature a different way by changing the world they're in, but it still stands or falls on its merits as a story.
If you do interpret the fable, you can tell me what it means.
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That was cute, Pat.
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I've been waiting for weeks for Lightspeed to release this short story online. Tobias Buckell wrote one of the original HALO series books. This is the first short story of his I've read. It's good. A bit gory. https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/ratcatcher/
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Yes, quite good, but definitely not for the faint of stomach.
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I laughed and laughed at the MSG golem. f course, I've never known a little girl like that, have I Pat?
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Why, no, of course not.
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Pat, I need for you to call me about moving as I am in the same predicament. Do you still have my phone number?
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Yes. I just called you, got no answer, so I sent you an email with my number. Call if you like.
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I am just winding up a book called Archangel Down: Archangel Project, Book 1 (of course it has to be another series book). C. Gockel is primarily a fantasy writer (the I Bring the Fire series, and others), but this one is science fiction. It is much better than I expected.
http://www.cgockelwrites.com/book/archangel-down-archangel-project-book-one/
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That looks interesting, Frybabe. I don't do kindle, so will have to look for it elsewhere.
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Time Shards
Gregory Benford
Suppose you had a chance to put a message into a time capsule? What would you say?
Gregory Benford is one of the "hard" sci-fi writers, meaning there's a lot science in his stories. (He's a physicist in private life.) Timescape, dealing with messages from the future and ways of changing history, is supposed to be his best, but I like Artifact, which combines Greek archaeology, a physics-based explanation of the Minotaur, with an action-packed adventure, and even a love story.
This story is not so heavy on the science. You don't have to understand the physics to get the point.
Time Shards (http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/time-shards/)
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Oh good, something to read while I listen to Radioman's classical music program. That is, if I have not convinced myself to mow the backyard today.
I see I posted the Archangel Down comment to the wrong scifi discussion. Oh, well.
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Pat, I started Time Shards but got distracted by aching feet plus my life in general. Sorry about that! Since the AC is being worked on, for the next 5 hours, I will try to return to the story today.🤓😱🙏🙏🙏!
Frybabe, do you have a link to Radioman? Or do I have to get to him after I get S&Fs up?
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Annie, Radioman's show is on Sundays at 1pm on https://beta.tunein.com/radio/1069-The-X-s12279/ I bookmarked it so I don't have to bring up Seniors and Friends and go hunt his program listing, which he posts on Saturday mornings. Don has it set up so he can chat with us in Classical Corner on Senior and Friends when he has a record spinning.
This coming Sunday is a holiday for Canada, so there won't be any program.
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Pat, I vaguely recall something about pottery in the making picking up sound vibrations and embedding them into the pot. It was years ago (well before the publication date of this story, I am sure) so I don't remember if it was speculation or an experiment someone did. I would think it would have had to have been embedded before the clay dried and was put into the kiln. Going to go see if I can find anything about it.
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Okay, here is an interesting article about pottery recordings. http://tenser.typepad.com/tenser_said_the_tensor/2006/02/pottery_recordi.html Be sure to read the comments below the article. One of the posters mentions "Time Shards" and where Benfield got the idea for the story.
Another find, there is in fact a minor discipline called Archaeoacoustics and some experimentation. The Proceedings of the IEEE is a peer reviewed journal, but the article quoted a letter to the journal, so I don't think it got the same peer review that a regular article would have gotten.
Here is the University of Pennsylvania's take on the Woodbridge letter which essentially busts it as an April Fools hoax. It shows some interesting investigation into how they came to that conclusion. http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002875.html
What little I can find on Woodbridge so far is that he did indeed graduate from Princeton and did some work on underwater ultraviolet lighting for divers. But this reference is more up our alley. http://ssi.org/ssi-supermodels-part-2-make-your-own-ssi-mass-driver/ Imagine that. Woodbridge also wrote about Edgar Alan Poe and article titled “J.N. Reynolds: Father of American Exploration,” Princeton University Library, among others. I am guessing that he followed in his father's footsteps with an engineering degree, but that is only a guess. His dad appears to have been an engineer and his grandfather did research on Perrywinkles. His sister Margaretta, passed on in 2004. The obit mentioned that Woodbridge III predeceased her.
Okay, I just about ran that little research project dry.
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Interesting stuff, Frybabe! I couldn't hear or find any place with sound. Looked clear to the end but nothing was there. I did like Time Shards especially the last remark of Brooks. WithThe story, being so short, that remark that Brooks made was like the catch phrase of any well told joke. Tickled me! I thought "nothing ever changes!" We just keep trying with little success. Generation after generation. We keep trudging along, putting one foot in front of the other.
I just read the article about making your own SSI model and immediately sent it to my grandson in law. Thought he would enjoy helping his sons make one. He is always doing
this kind of stuff with them. Then my granddaughter Facebooks it for us all to see.
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Here is another very short story from a site of little known writers. Simple, good ending.
https://short-story.me/science-fiction-stories/934-the-ultimate-weapon.html
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You haven't heard from me lately because I've been in LA for the wedding of my nephew, and since I'm staying with the mother of the groom (JoanK) I've been surrounded by a circus. It's over, everything was beautiful, no disasters, and nobody got mad at someone. Now I'm packing for Portland, but have comments on your posts I hope to have time for later today.
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Frybabe, thanks for tracking down the inspiration for Benford's story, that complex and convincing hoax.
And thanks for pointing us to the Space Studies Institute website. I'm going to look further at that site. The mass driver is really cool--takes me back to my Heathkit days. I'm really tempted to try it. The main obstacle is the battery.
That short story has a nifty gimmick to it. It would have been nice if the author had been a better writer, or had a better understanding of how scientists work.
Annie, I love seeing how your family interacts, and what tinkerers they all are.
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Oh, my grandson in law is more than a tinkerer! He has a PHD in fluid dynamics! He is always teaching the kids things like the SSI! I am waiting to see what he will do with this little project!🤓🤓🙏🙏🙏
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I'm guessing that to a fluid dynamics physicist, making that mass driver is pretty light-hearted play. I bet he has fun.
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The Weight of Memories
Cixin Liu
We read a hilarious story by Ken Liu, The MSG Golem. Here's a story by the other Liu. Cixin Liu is Chinese, most known for a trilogy starting with The Three Body Problem. Ken Liu is often his translator, as is the case here.
This story isn't light-hearted; it's poignant and somewhat disturbing.
The Weight of Memories (http://www.tor.com/2016/08/17/the-weight-of-memories/)
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I picked up on the genetic memory right away. You are right, the ending is a bit disturbing.
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It's also touching and hopeful though. I don't want to comment in detail until others have a chance to read it.
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Superiority
Arthur C. Clarke
Here's some comic relief in an oldie by Arthur C. Clarke, with no serious point, except maybe the limitations of a theoretical approach to scientific problems. It's mostly scientific description, but you don't have to know any science; it's just the overall effect that's the point, and that's made quite clear.
Superiority (http://www.baen.com/Chapters/1439133476/1439133476___5.htm)
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Here is a short story from Paul Park that I found amusing. "The Tourist" is time travel tourism mayhem. http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/tourist.htm
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https://www.theparisreview.org/interviews/6253/ursula-k-le-guin-the-art-of-fiction-no-221-ursula-k-le-guin
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HI Barb! I hope that means your eye problem has resolved itself or at least greatly improved. Thanks for posting the interview. I've been trying to post on Poetry now and again in your absence, but they are just poems I've run across now and again.
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It finally dawned on my while reading Alastair Reynolds' Galactic North (short stories and novellas) that the Conjoiners sound a lot like Star Trek's Borg except that the Conjoiners don't seem as keen on conquering space as they are preserving their lifestyle and communities from persecution.
Most of the stories in Galactic North were interesting, but I didn't care much for the title novella. I didn't finish that one. I was hoping to find more stories about Prefect Dreyfus of Panoply but there weren't any. However, Reynolds is working on a sequel to The Prefect. It is due out in 2018. Big gap between the two, the first was originally published in 2007.
Here is Alastair Reynolds' website list of his books and comments on them. http://www.alastairreynolds.com/novels/ I may just have to read Century Rain considering my BIL is a jazz pianist.
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I knew I'd read one of Reynolds' books, but couldn't figure out which from his descriptions. It was Revelation Space, which I found sort of confusing, but gripping.
Now I'm reading Charles Stross' The Delirium Brief, the latest in his series of the fight of the computational demonologists (good guys) to keep the world from being overwhelmed by horrible things from other universes. The series is getting less good, complicated in an uninteresting way, and he's having to work pretty hard to stretch out the action without actually getting to the approaching Armageddon.
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My girlfriend in CO just sent me this article commenting "So that is how Dr. McCoy did it." More cutting edge medical tech. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-4768492/Nanochip-regrow-organs-injecting-DNA-skin.html?ITO=applenews
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I read this cute little story by Roger D. Aycock this morning. http://manybooks.net/titles/aycockr3159931599.html Project Gutenberg has it, but I think ManyBooks has more formats.
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Frybabe, when I tried to access your story, I got weird results, and no story. If you can suggest another route, I'll try again. It may be my ancient browser.
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Anthony Boucher was perhaps better known as a mystery writer, but he also wrote fantastic horror stories and some sci-fi, mostly short stories. Looking for some of his fantasy stories to post, I only came across this sci-fi story. I read it when it came out in 1950; it was my first introduction to a concept that you and I, Frybabe, recently discussed in the sci-fi discussion here. I'd forgotten who wrote it, was delighted to find it again.
Transfer Point (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/51115/51115-h/51115-h.htm)
To avoid spoilers for anyone else reading it, we should comment in the sci-fi discussion.
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Try this link, PatH. This is the Gutenberg link from which ManyBooks originally got it, I believe. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/31599 You can choose which format you want to read it in.
I've saved "Transfer Point" to read on my Kindle a little later.
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heading
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That link worked fine for me. Good story, well told, kind of touching.
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Something different in the land of short story SciFi. Amazon Prime will be airing a new series next year called Phillip K. Dick's Electric Dreams. Here is IMDB's page with trailer:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5711280/ Click on the Episode Guide to see the description of the upcoming episodes based on Dick's short stories. I don't recognize any of these, but then I only read a very few of his stories.
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I am trying catch up on some of the short stories I downloaded quite a while ago.
This one, by Dallas McCord Reynolds is called Ultima Thule I downloaded mine from Project Gutenberg, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30334 It is about a guy who is hired by a little known government agency to track down a person named Tommy Paine (named after Thomas Paine of Common Sense fame) who has supposedly been encouraging insurrections, wars, and the like on many planets. It is about 82 pages.
The other, is Thin Edge by Randall Garrett, where a guy from the asteroid belt is on Earth investigating the disappearance of a friend. This one is about 24 pages. Another Project Gutenberg find http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/30869 it is also available free on Amazon.
Both are light, with a bit of humor. I enjoyed them very much.
Oh, I did a little research on the meaning of Ultima Thule since I thought that is what Iceland is sometimes called. Iceland is simply Thule, and Ultima Thule refers to Greenland. Also, the term was used in Medieval times and before to indicate those places beyond the known world.
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I enjoyed Thin Edge too. Ultima Thule will have to wait until I'm caught up in Barchester Towers.
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In choosing stories to post here, I try to cover a wide spectrum of past and present, realistic and fantastical, hard science, and science only as a background, to show the great variety of this field. The hardest of hard sci-fi authors I can think of is Hal Clement. With him, it's all about physics, with characterization lagging well behind. A typical scene has characters of various species brainstorming together about the physics of the current disaster. I couldn't find anything of his online; either the copyrights are tightly held or no one bothers, but I did find this interesting list of Top 10 but Obscure Science Fiction Novels. The description of Iceworld is accurate both for the book and for what Clement's stories are like.
That's the only one of the 10 I've read. I remember the existence of the Leinster, but didn't read it, and have heard of Eric Frank Russell, but the rest are obscure to me at least.
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Early Ray Bradbury efforts. https://www.theverge.com/2013/8/22/4647008/read-futuria-fantasia-ray-bradbury-early-science-fiction-zine
The article has links to the Project Gutenberg issues and to Open Culture's audio of the first issue.
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I finally got a chance to read Ultima Thule during the Thanksgiving Portland trip--very enjoyable. I guessed part of where he was going, but not all. Of course you wouldn't have such a high success rate of establishing new colonies, especially done by impractical groups of idealists, and it's hard to believe that there would be only one such complete sighting as described, but nothing's perfect.
My early exposure to Ray Bradbury consisted of reading some of The Martian Chronicles stories in popular magazines like Colliers and the Saturday Evening Post when they first came out. The image of the blast shadows of the family on the wall of their still-functioning automated house stuck with me permanently.
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I read "Transfer Point" by Anthony Boucher the other night and liked it enough to pass it on. It is a time loop story printed way back in 1950 in the November edition of Galaxy Science Ficition magazine. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51115
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Glad you liked it, Frybabe. I read it in Galaxy when it came out, and it stuck with me enough so I was glad to find it again and put it here.
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Here is another SciFi short, this time a video, called The Time Agent. I do like Chinese SciFi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeSRwdq5M_E
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I just got notification that Daniel H. Wilson, author of Robopocalypse and Clockwork Dynasty, has a new book of short stories releasing on March 6 called Guardian Angels and Other Monsters. I am a fan of his AI/Robotics based stories.
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I'm glad I stopped in here this morning. I forgot about Wilson's book of short stories. Another thing to look up today.
I've just started Hugh Howey's book of short stories, called Machine Learning and Collected Stories. The first one, "A Walk Up Nameless Ridge" is compelling. His comments at the end of the story are equally compelling, thoughtful and philosophical. He took a story about something I thought wasn't very interesting to me and made into something much more. It isn't any wonder that I am attracted to his writings. If going through his Wool series isn't to your taste, I suggest reading Sand, Beacon 23, or The Shell Collector. Howey is an avid sailor and is still sailing the world on his catamaran. He keeps a commentary of his travels on Twitter. Maybe we will someday see a book or two come out of his travels. Last I heard he is off Fiji somewhere.
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Well, no recommendation more promising than your own. ;)
The Howey sounds promising to me. I read the first Wool book, and had issues with it that left me not wanting to read the others, but I feel I might very well enjoy other stuff of his. He writes well, knows how to hold your interest, etc. And anyone who enjoys sailing is automatically a notch or two up in my estimation. So I'll look for that book. The library branch that's actually accessible to me has finally reopened from renovations, so maybe I can get it.
The Vor Game: I should have thought of this sooner, maybe it's not too late. The strategies of the second half of the book don't make much sense unless you know the wormhole geography and what connects to what. I can't imagine keeping it straight via an audiobook. My paperback has a map that makes it clear. Should I post a picture to help? Or have you already finished the book?
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Pat, The Shell Collector is a nice romance which features a future global warming coastal flooding effect. Sand is a future post-apocalypse or severe environmental scene; the characters are mostly scavengers who have learned how to dive through sand to explore and scavenge from the buried cities below. Beacon 23 is focused on a man who suffers from PTSD who takes a job as a light beacon operator near a treacherous asteroid field. Howey focuses on the human aspects more than scientific aspects of his stories. His book of short stories are fascinating. Not all the stories, mind you, are of interest to me, but his explanations of what triggered the writing of them and what he, at times, hopes the reader takes away from them. One rather gruesome very short story was triggered by some ballet dance friends and his proclaimed struggle with an eating disorder. I would not have put that together without his explanation of how the story came about.
I am now on to Cetaganda , but it appears skipping the short stories and novellas (including Mountains of Mourning, Borders of Infinity and Labyrinth) shows me that I am missing something. Also, I thought Cetaganda was next on the list. I missed Mirror Dance, so that is now on hold for the audio version. It looks like I am next on the list for that. I might be able to get what I am missing through an ILL. I will also check Gutenberg to see where they are with the now copywrite free Analog issues, although I doubt Bujold's short stories will be included, it is worth a look.
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Cetaganda occurs next in time after The Vor Game, then comes Brothers in Arms among the full-length books.
The three novellas you mention don't all occur at the same time. The Mountains of Mourning takes place right after Miles graduates from the Academy, and illuminates some of his motivations. Labyrinth occurs after Cetaganda, is about a mission to Jackson's Whole, and introduces some characters who will reappear later. The Borders of Infinity tells of Miles' mission to rescue prisoners of war from a Cetagandan camp, by a means that I found infinitely tedious and somewhat unlikely. It explains why the Cetagandans are mad at Miles in the next long book, Brothers in Arms, but the book recapitulates enough to make sense. The second and third novellas also appear in some of the combined volumes that are the current republishing, but I've only seen Mountains of Mourning in a hard to find trilogy, Borders of Infinity. I finally found a used copy in Powell's a year ago.
Ethan of Athos has nothing to do with the main story, being a side solo mission of Elli Quinn, though you don't see much of her. I thought it not very good.
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Thanks, Pat. I was having trouble with the reading order.
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PatH, in case I haven't mentioned, Jack McDevitt is coming out with a book of his short stories. It will release on August 31. I am delighted to see that at least one of the stories is about his Alex Benedict character and another one or two about Priscilla Hutchins.
I did a little research and found out YEA! that another Alex Benedict book is in the works with a projected release sometime in 2019.
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Coming out in September is a new anthology of classic SciFi stories written by women, most of whom I have never heard. I only recognize one short story that I have read (and possibly one other). I am including Amazon's site because it lists the story contents. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1598535803/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=publiweekl05-20
The publisher is listed as Library of America, https://www.loa.org/ From their "About" page comes what is essentially their mission statement. ...to curate and publish authoritative new editions of America’s best and most significant writing, including acknowledged classics, neglected masterpieces, and historically important documents and texts
I am happy to discover this resource.
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That looks like a good collection. I recognize 10 of the authors, many from my remote past.
C. L. Moore was the wife of Henry Kuttner, and they wrote stories both together and separately.
Zenna Henderson wrote some books and short stories about the survivors of a spaceship that crashed on earth. They have various extrasensory powers, which they have to hide in order not to be persecuted, as they try to fit in, find each other, and figure out what role their gifts will play in making life better for earthlings.
Carol Emshwiller is the widow of classic sci-fi illustrator Ed Emshwiller, or Emsh. I've read one or two of her stories.
I've read most of James Tiptree, Jr.'s stories, including that one.
And I've read that LeGuin story too.
I've read the Judith Merril story too, if it's the one I think it is.
I find Marion Zimmer Bradley fairly unreadable, and Kate Wilhelm and Joanna Russ are mostly just names to me.
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I liked A Door Through Space a lot, but it is practically the only one I remember reading. I was hoping to find some sequels, but no go. I think I read The Color of Space too, but I do not remember a thing about it. I just noticed that Wikipedia says that two of Bradley's children accused her of child sexual abuse. UGH! I had earlier seen that she had been accused of being abusive, but I never before saw the word sexual attached to it.
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Pat, I liked Komarr better than I thought. Now it is on to A Civil Campaign which sounds a bit over the top, but hey, it was one of the series that got several nominations for awards. Bujold sure knows how to keep things interesting, even if the synopsis of the book doesn't make it sound that interesting. This book and an old Jack McDevitt stand alone is on hold at the library. They should be ready to pick up Friday.
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Bujold says somewhere that A Civil Campaign is deliberately goofy, and that's particularly true of one of the story lines.
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New book due to release on the 23rd, Astounding by Alec Nevala-Lee, a biography about John W. Campbell, Jr. and his relationship with Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, and L. Ron Hubbard. Sounds interesting.
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That would indeed be interesting. At the time, I didn't like the way Astounding veered under his direction--too much psi phenomenon stuff. But he printed good stuff too. The book will have lots of stuff of interest to me.
I'll see if my library gets it.
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I discovered this on YouTube and just loved it. The author, who bills himself as Exurb1a and Exurb2a, has several books of short stories out on Kindle and has posted readings of some of them on YouTube. I plan on ordering at least one of his books soon. Maybe one day the author will reveal his name. The author appears to live in Sofia, Bulgaria and like reading and writing things with a leaning to the metaphysical. Here is "The Lantern": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um6cGuJ4mNE
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Good story, well read, and a nice variation on a classic sort of theme. Thanks, Frybabe.
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Forgot to mention, Pat, that I am trying out a free trial of Analog. I didn't have too much interest in the first several stories, but most of the rest are interesting. Of course, I had to read Jack McDevitt's short story, "Tea Time with Aliens". It wasn't as good as I expected.
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Gee, it's been ages since I so much as held an issue of Analog in my hands. I guess it's still one of the better ones? When I was growing up, my father subscribed to just about every sci-fi magazine you could name, and I would gobble them up, but when I moved out, I mostly didn't get any, just read some when visiting my parents.
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Just wanted to mention how much I enjoy The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year volumes edited by Jonathan Strahan. He seems to have outdone himself with Volume 12. So far I've read six of the first nine stories, skipped two, skimmed one. Tobias S. Bucknell did not disappoint. Nor did Linda Nagata and Yoon Ha Lee, whose story, "The Chameleon's Gloves", left me wanting to know more about the Kel and Rehan in particular. Rehan is referred to as them or they which is never explained in the story. I am almost done reading "The Mocking Tree" by Daniel Abraham, who is one half for the James S. A. Corey duo who write the Expanse series books. This is the first of his short stories I have read to my knowledge. Except for a short story by Alastair Reynold's, none of the other authors names sound familiar.
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This is a most interesting short story called "All Together, Now" by Jason Hough and Ramez Naam and recently republished in Lightspeed.http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/all-together-now/ Human/machine interfaced war from a different perspective, it seems almost poetic at times.
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Wow. Thanks for that story, Frybabe. Yes, poetic at times, and memorable, and ingenious.
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Finished listening to Proto Zoa, which is a book of about five or six early short stories by Lois McMaster Bujold. Nice to listen to, nothing spectacular, but good, all of them.
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PatH, I just finished reading two awesome short stories. "A Bead of Jasper, Four Small Stones" by Genevieve Valentine is about a guy who is an émigré to Europa. He is a communications technician on the night shift and communicates with a com tech in India as the Earth is being inundated with water. It is a rather poignant story with a rather startling ending given what is commanding most of the news today. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/valentine_10_12/
The other is called "The Grinnell Method" by Molly Gloss. You may have heard of her as she native of the Portland, OR area. Here is a short bio including pix: note the one with Ursula Le Guin from whom she took a course years ago. https://www.mollygloss.com/about The story is about an ornithologist studying birds somewhere around the mouth of the Columbia River during WWII. It includes sad bits, a mystery, and a young girl who shows interest in the ornithologist's work as well as the nature around her. This, of course, was back when women were still looked down on in the sciences. www.strangehorizons.com/fiction/the-grinnell-method-part-1-of-2/ Link to part two at the bottom of part 1.
These two are included in The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year: Volume Seven, edited by Johnathan Strahan. I hope you get a chance to read them.
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Frybabe, I know Molly Gloss more for her fiction about Oregon, which is quite good. The best is The Jump-Off Creek, about a solitary widow establishing a homestead in the Oregon mountains in the 1890s. By that time, the lush areas were filled up--it's a hard life in a male-dominated world. The book was roughly based on one of her forebears. I recommend it.
The Hearts of Horses is about a young woman establishing herself as a horsebreaker in 1917, when most of the men were off fighting, so a woman had a chance at such a job.
The Dazzle of Day is sci-fi, a tale of a colony ship that's going to take generations to reach its destination.
Wild Life is fantasy, about a woman lost in the woods, rescued by a Sasquatch-like creature, who lives among these for a while, acquiring their way of life, and then has to readjust to the human world.
Those stories sound good. I'll have a look after lunch.
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Pat, I am adding Ken Liu's short story, " Mono no aware", to my short list of fabulous stories in Strathan's volume VII. In fact, I would put this one, if asked for a list of must read short stories, at or near the top of the list. It struck me as profound, a life-lesson, a life philosophy that should be on a required or included on a list of short-stories to read before you die (or more like, graduate high school/college). http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/mono-no-aware/ It was the Hugo Award winner in 2012 for best short story of the year.
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Wow! That's powerful, overwhelming.
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Project Gutenberg has been listing a bunch of short stories from Planet Stories magazine. I never heard of it, but it was around long enough to publish 71 issues between 1939 and 1955. The stories I looked at so far have not appealed to me. Wikipedia says that it initially published stories to appeal to youngsters, which may have something to do with it, or it could be that I just have not been real interested in reading older works lately.
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I never heard of Planet Stories either. It must have been pretty minor, because my father never subscribed to it, and he got just about every s-f magazine worth reading.
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A new book of short stories, To Hold Up the Sky by Cixin Liu, will be released in October. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250306081
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Wow. He's sure turning them out. I took a break from his short stories because he was doing such a good job of describing some painful human issues that are particularly in evidence during the current crisis, and I was rationing such emotions as much as I could. But I'll get back to him. He's too good not to read.
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These are all apparently short stories he wrote that have never been translated into English. I am looking forward to reading them.
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Oops. I goofed. I was going too fast, read Ken Liu Instead of Cixin, and didn't check the link. My comments applied to Ken. I shouldn't try to think straight when I'm sleepy.
Yes, it'll be nice to see them. I wonder if they will show much change over the years.
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I just looked to see who translated the Cixin Liu this time. Huh, the frontpiece says the English translation is done by China Education Publications, but down a page, it shows each story has a "copyright acknowledgement" for five different translators.